Gods Of War
by BlackHowls
Summary: Upon the moment of her death, one woman is given a choice. Will she become the means to end this war, or is history doomed to repeat itself once more? Inspired by the God of War videogame.
1. Chapter 1

This is just me being silly trying to pass the time after some late night gaming. I really don't know what possessed me to think this up, but like I said, I was just trying to pass the time. I'm aware I picked an odd choice for main character so Pleeeaase don't take this too seriously!!

**Caution:**Language ahead, and probably some gore. I may attempt to salvage some sort of continuity with the anime, but as you read on you'll realize I needed certain characters in certain places for things to happen. Oh well. Just go with it.  
Since your here anyway you must be looking for a time waster, so I hope this cures some of that boredom for you, if not just for a little while. I don't venture into fan-fiction too often, so please tell me what you think, but as always be gentle.

**Oh yeah: **Mwu is Mwu, he did block the Dominions positron cannon, but instead of being found by the EA, he was eventually found by a friendly search party. Neo _may_ be in this story but if so, he's an entirely different person, not Mwu.

- This takes place shortly after the Minerva has left Orb. Junius Seven has fallen and the EA has already started trying to force Orb into an alliance, Yuna is slowly taking control away from Cagalli and is pressuring her into marriage, and now the country is in the throws of a strange communications blackout. Oh no's! Here we go!

* * *

_A long time ago, before the age of colonies and coordinators, when science was young and the massive war machine was simply a bad dream. There was a time of epic wars and tales of heroes who fought naught with guns and advanced technology, but with only a sword and a shield, and faith. It was the age of legends and myths, but above all, it was the time of the Gods_. 

_They watched over the race of mortals, claiming never to get involved with their world and their lives with their petty reasons for warring. But as the gods watched over them they could not deny a sense of envy, in the eyes of the Gods the life of a Mortal was short and insignificant and thus were intrigued by the few who would try to make their name last forever in history._

_Few succeeded but in the tales of those that did, if you look deep enough the name of a God was always close behind. Whether it was simple advice or pure empowerment, the involvement of the Gods was something frowned upon by the deities in question and feared on the mortal plane. It caused wars to end, and wars to start and distrust among the Gods themselves, as mortals were soon swept up in their arguments and in the end used as pawns._

_One such incident involved Ares, the God of War. A mortal warrior lay dying on a battlefield, his army soon to be decimated, called out to Ares in both desperation and selfishness. Sensing a great power in a single man, Ares saved the mortal and in turn destroyed the opposing army and forever making the mortal his servant and herald._

_In the end, terribly wronged and abandoned by the other Gods of Olympus, the Mortal betrayed Ares, and in an ironic twist, the very warrior Ares sought to make was the one to find a way to kill a God. Their pact broken, his power gone, Ares dissolved from existence forever. Or so it would seem._

_Can a God truly die? Or do their energies become displaced and lie dormant for what, to a mortal, would seem like an eternity…_

_Now, as thousands upon thousands of years gone by, a single burning thread has waited, forever watching and forever planning. His eyes focused on a single soul that has seen too much grief, too much death, and has been pushed much too far._

"You said you'd come back…"

_And once again Ares felt a calling that, if handled right could restore him to his former glory_.

"You promised…"

_But this time would be different_.

"Aim… Lohengrin!"

_And in this new strange time, however brief the moment; Ares saw the makings of a God in the shell of a mere mortal_.

Gods Of War  
Ch-01  
You made her Mad

How long had it been?

How long had she been fighting for?

_Why?_ She asks herself as smoke and the smell of burning wreckage fills her lungs. _They won't change they refuse to change. _Her mind now forming thoughts and questions in her head as her body tries to ignore the searing pain rushing through it.

To her it seemed like an eternity since she was thrown into her first battle, she could barely remember the first time she had fired a weapon, the first time she had killed an enemy. And now here of all places her mind races trying to find a reason for it all. _Why am I here now? Why did I put myself through this?_ She knows why, she's just so very tired of it all.

A sadistic laugh brings her back to reality, to the orange tinted sky from amber fire, to the sounds of mobile suits clashing in the distance, to the blood dripping down her back and the fatigue and pure exhaustion each heavy leg felt as she refused to stop.

"So, this is the legendary Captain Ramius?" A young male voice from behind speaks up. "She's not much outside her warship now, is she."

"I thought she'd be taller." Another points out comically, only to be greeted with a chorus of laughter from three others with him. "I hoped she'd be taller, I like 'em tall." He comments, again he gains laughter and murmurs of agreement.

She can't see them, but she can feel it, feel the cocky grins on their faces as they slowly keep pace behind her. She knows she's finished, done for; her entire career as over-exaggerated as it may be, all comes down to this very moment. No blaze of glory… no brilliant last stand. Just simply caught off guard by four ordinary run-of-the-mill grunts.

That part she didn't mind, she knew the dangers when she signed the dotted line, she was aware that this was a war, shit happens… people die. No, what got to her was that it always lead to her being chased, from the first time she was given command at Heliopolis she and her crew were quarry for some team, for someone's revenge, for the pride of another faction. And even now these four chased her limping bloodstained sorry excuse for a person, toying with her as she stumbled or faltered on the loosened dirt and sand.

Playing, laughing, tormenting, getting a cocky high off her suffering.

Hell if that didn't piss her off.

Its what was driving her to keep walking, she knew she was about to die but she refused to give them the satisfaction of watching her just curl up and expire. She would make them work for it, drag it out as long as possible just to prove a point that she will not go down easy. Not for them anyway.

The sound of a gunshot fills the air and she falls to one knee. She holds in her cries and accepts the shattering pain in her lower leg, instead she smiles slightly, seems her will to keep walking has started to annoy them.

"Damn." She says; is all she says before another shot is heard, its echo bouncing in the air for a brief moment. Now it not only hurts to breathe, but each breath becomes harder and harder to take in as her lung fills with the same sickly warm fluid that's trickling down her back and leg, soaking the starch white fabric of her ORB uniform.

Unable to stand and barely able to breath, she cranes her head to the sky just as two jets fly overhead. One she recognizes well, its white and blue color and black nose cone all too familiar. She knows who is inside it, tugging at the controls and probably cursing his pursuer to hell. And now wishes she didn't just so it wouldn't hurt as much to watch. The other jet trails close behind, foreign and unknown to her, obviously unfriendly. She doesn't hear the sound of its cannon as it fires off round after round every bullet hits its mark causing the familiar jets rear engines to burst into flames. Ramius watches as the craft slowly descends then crashes out of sight down by the coastline.

_Sorry Mwu. _She whispers silently, her voice refusing to work.

"Hope that wasn't anyone close to you?" One of her followers mockingly whispers into her ear. She takes in a few sharp breaths as she feels a rage boil deep within, unable to act upon it though she simply clenches her jaw and tries not to choke on the lifeblood welling in her throat.

She tries to block them out as they begin to step ahead of her, she can hear the boots of her assailants trampling the war-torn dirt as they turn and face her. "Hey." One of them prods her with the muzzle of his rifle. "Hey! I'm talking to you." He prods again harder, a flash of annoyance crosses his visage when she does not fall over nor respond.

She doesn't dare look at him, knowing that's what he wants, instead she turns her head to the visible sea, hoping perhaps to see the image of a setting sun, anything better then her current surroundings. Instead she is greeted with the sight of the _Archangel_, her ship, her warship, and her responsibility listing on its side in the shallows. Smoking embers and sparks twisting upward and sailing into the darkened sky as its engines burn. The sight of it nearly bring tears to her eyes, not because that ship was pretty much her home for months on end and never failed her in battle, but because of the people on board that she failed to protect. They were probably still alive, but the ship was a target nonetheless for anything that got too close and through the few cannons that were still operational.

A silver streak above the vessel catches her eye; the Freedom Gundam and its pilot Kira Yamato continue to circle the crippled ship valiantly. Ramius knows he will not leave it, he swore time and time again to protect it and those on board, and Ramius in turn promised the same, but also swore to that young man to protect him as well.

_Some protector I turned out to be._ She thought to herself. _I've failed as a soldier, I've failed as a captain, as a friend, and I've failed Orb. Kira, Cagalli… Mwu… everyone… no…._

"No…" She manages to say barely a voice to be had.

"What was that? You trying to say something?" The soldier's tone is that of a bully, and again he prods her with his rifle only to raise a brow when she suddenly grabs the rifle-end with a surprising amount of strength, considering her current condition.

"I wasn't strong enough." She whispers more to herself then to anyone, the man cocks his head to the side not hearing the words. "I wasn't strong enough, and I failed them… failed everyone…" She finally looks up at him, having had enough of this game and slowly guides the end of the rifle to her own chest. "I'm sorry…" Her voice is raspy. "If only…"

The crack of the rifle butt upside her skull sends out a sickening sound. She does not remember the hit, or falling, just opening her eyes to a blurring pain surrounded by dust and dirt. She doesn't want to get up, she just wants to lay here forever and sleep, but her body ignores her own mind and she finds herself on all fours, the change in posture sending blood pouring from her mouth and nose. It's a horrid sensation and for once she curses the strength military training has granted her own body, for it seems it just didn't want to give up.

She manages to sit up on her knees and once again faces her assailant. Only able to see through one eye, she notices his disgusted look, not surprising, her face is a mess. Blood gushed from her nose and dripped from her chin, add in the gash on the side of her head that was now bleeding profusely.

The soldier snorts, quickly getting bored of this little charade. A tap on his shoulder from one of his fellow soldiers behind gets his attention, nodding they decide its time finish her off for good. Finally taking his rifle in both hands he raises it and aims.

"Well, Captain Murrue Ramius of ORB…" He addresses her, ginning madly while the others snicker behind him.

It can't end like this 

"Scourge of Zaft…"

_Someone help... help them…_

"Traitor of the Earth Forces…"

_Something… anything…_

"Annoyance to god knows whom else."

_Anyone…_

"It does me great honor to be the one to do this. So I'll make this short." He doesn't have to, but he looks down the sight of the gun anyway as he aims, right between the eyes. A slight smirk crosses his face. "Goodbye."

_Help…_

He squeezes the trigger, and just as the expected shot should of fired and rung out through the air, completely out of the blue a freak bolt of crimson lightning strikes down. Knocking the four soldiers off their feet, temporarily blinding and deafening them as well. The leader and gunman was knocked flat on his back, his shot flying wildly into the air, he doesn't move for few seconds, stunned from the sudden noise and the blinding flash.

"Christ!" He swears as he sits up, waiting for the ringing in his ears to stop. "What the hell was that?" He questions looking up to the smoke filled yet cloudless sky, that was lightning, wasn't it? Then as the good soldier he is, he turns around and makes sure his men are all right only to see them sitting up as well, rubbing their heads clearly still stunned. Suddenly he remembers what he was doing before whatever the hell that was had happened, reaching for his gun he jumps to his feet and turns back to where the woman was kneeling. His eyes go wide… she's not kneeling anymore. "What… the…"

Instead of the broken bleeding woman waiting do die; he is greeted with the sight of her standing staring up at the sky. Vapor rising gently from her perfectly white unstained uniform not a drop of blood to be seen. She notices him staring and lowers her face to look at him, burning golden-brown eyes with an uncanny focus look over the group of soldiers before locking with the leaders own.

"_How is she standing?"_ He thinks to himself as he looks her over and takes notice that her wounds have mysteriously disappeared. Along with that, he notices something strange about her posture and the way she stands, she looks bigger somehow, taller. He misses something important though, the faint outline of silver wrapped around her forearms, nor does he see the shadow that hung from them. _"No matter. Its just one woman."_ And with that he begins to raise his rifle once more to finish what he had started.

Ramius sees the movement, predicts it, and before the gun of her would be assassin is raised, she charges and in a flash she is upon him. The man gasps as their bodies press against one another, he saw it, saw her movement and how impossibly fast it was for natural or coordinator alike, let alone someone who had just been shot several times.

Cheek to cheek they stand, from an outsider view it would seem they were in a lovers embrace if it were not for the blood that suddenly began to gush from his mouth, or the massive runed blade that jutted from his back. She feels him beginning to go limp as he loses the strength to hold his own weapon. Now it's her turn to mock, her turn to smile. She brings her lips close to his ear and with a tone more venomous then any snake whispers. "Goodbye."

He shrieks in pain as she literally lifts him off his feet with one arm, plunging the blade deeper into him. Then finally allows him to slide from her weapon as he dies, dropping to the ground with a sickening thud. The other soldiers, not quite sure what has just transpired stand awestruck, mere moments ago this woman was on her knees, breathing her last breath, but now standing before them as calm as if she was never shot at all. One of them gets a good look at her and sees that thick silver chains seem to now be wrapped around her wrists and most of her lower arm. He cannot see were the chains begin or end, only that they each lead to a deadly looking weapon in each hand.

Too short to be called a sword, too wide to be called a dagger, the blades curved in waves. The edges serrated and sharp outlined in glowing red runes that ran up the middle. The whole thing was surreal, they looked to the young soldier like something out of a videogame or a comic book.

"Commander!" Another one yells and the three remaining soldiers watch in horror as the lifeless corpse of their commanding officer lay dead on the ground. In a fit of rage the one who yells takes up arms and fires off three shots, Ramius was standing only a few meters away, his chance of missing was pretty much zero.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He didn't miss, but he didn't hit her either. She lowers her blades from her defensive stance and looks at her shooter, a small grin cracking the corner of her mouth.

"That's… impossible…" The soldier states, she didn't just deflect rifle fire… did she? Suddenly, with a gurgled sigh his comrade next to him drops to the ground like a stone, a pool of blood collecting underneath him. "Holy shit…" He swears, she did deflect them, and his friend here was unlucky enough to be in the bullets redirected path.

He takes his attention off of her and stares at his friend for a second too long. There is an odd sensation and a cold feeling running down his arm, when he finally raises his arm to look he sees not only the blade, but also the chain wrapped around it leading back to her hands. He wasn't thinking straight, but knew he was in trouble; the rest was a blur as she yanked the chain back with such a force, that it sends the soldier flying towards her. Just as it looks as though the two will impact, Ramius spins on her heals and brings up her other arm, and in one fluid motion crosses her other blade in the path of the flying man.

When he lands the chain seemingly unravels by its own accord and quickly slithers back to her, coiling itself around her arm once again and delivering the blade back to her hand. She then lets both weapons drop from her palms and as they fall the blade end vanishes, leaving the hilts to dangle harmlessly from her wrists. Stepping over the body, she avoids the rolling path of the man's head and sets her eyes on the last of her assailants.

The last remaining soldier was either incredibly scared, or incredibly smart, as he drops his weapon one time and takes off running like a jackrabbit. She watches his form shrink into the distance as he runs and for a moment ponders just letting him go.

_Why should I? _The question suddenly appears in her mind almost as if someone else placed it there. _He and his little friends were going to kill me; they chased me, shot me, laughed as I bled. _Ramius let her thoughts sink in for a moment then a realization hit her. _If I let him go, who's to say he won't do it to someone else? Who's to say he wouldn't do this to Kira, to Lacus… to Mwu._

A low growl emanates from deep inside her throat as she makes her decision.

He was a good ways off now, his silhouette barely visible as he continues to run, never looking back. It didn't matter though, as she began her own chase she quickly closes the distance, each powerful stride propelling her faster then any athlete could ever dream. Its not long until she's caught up, a sick satisfaction building inside her, finally she is the one doing the chasing, for a change someone else is running for their life.

He's breathing heavily, the sweat dripping from his brow stings his eyes but he concentrates solely on running. The soldier can hear the sound of steady footsteps following behind and no matter how hard he pushes himself; he can't seem to outrun the pounding of the ground behind him. Not being able to bare it any longer he steals a glance back, and sees her keeping pace. He does not understand at all, here he is running as fast and as hard as he can go and she looks as if she is out for a morning jog.

His foot catches a loose stone causing him to lose his footing and trip over his own feet. He tumbles ungracefully to the ground and slides to an uncomfortable halt. Too tired to get back up and continue his dash for life, he lays there in the dirt whimpering, the images of his dead commander and fellow soldiers flicker in his subconscious. Suddenly he feels a tugging at the back of his collar as she takes hold of his uniform, partially lifting him off the ground he is dragged along for a few yards. He sees where she's taking him and in desperation tries to cling on to something, anything that would stop them. His fingers dig into the ground as he pleads and cries but she ignores him.

Ramius drops him, his face mere inches from the edge of a manmade cliff. Flat on his belly the soldier peers over the edge, all he sees is flat cut-rock and the black paved road of a highway far far down below. She nudges his side with her foot signaling for him to turn over, he obeys and the moment he is on his back she grips the front of his collar this time and hauls him off the ground. She holds him in front of her for a few seconds and looks him right in the eyes.

"Who are you? Who are you with?" She demands; her voice clear and commanding like the captain she is.

He does not answer, he can't, with his feet not touching the ground and a fatal drop behind him he is too scared to form words. His silence only irritates her. "Answer me… now…" She says as she begins to extend her arm causing the man to slowly lean over the edge dangerously.

"Ah! We… We're…" He tries to form a coherent sentence as the ground below him disappears. We're… The enemies… of... enemies of!" The words stick in his throat.

"Enemies of what!" She shouts, pushing him farther over the edge.

"Orb! We are the Enemies of Orb!" He manages to shout out, and then amazingly continues to say even more. "We are they who don't believe in the ideals of Orb, we will see you fall!" It sounds rehearsed, clearly its their message, as lame as it is, their motto of some sort.

_Terrorists._

Ramius thinks to herself. This whole mess was nothing but an organized large-scale terrorist attack, probably orchestrated by a group of men who were either wronged or are just plain jealous of the current government. It had nothing to do with the current conflict with Blue Cosmos or the plants, and clearly even if they failed or succeeded would do nothing to push to resolve the warring factions.

_They're nothing but a waste of time._

She hears her voice in her mind again, leading her through her actions.

_Your friends your Archangel and even your Mwu. They could all be dead now because of them, and yet you still hold him? Question him? He made them suffer return the sentiment! Make him suffer!_

She sneers and allows her grip to loosen just a little.

_Even now he squanders precious time. Be done with him; go save the ones worth it!_

"Who… what are you!" Her captive asks wide-eyed and shaking violently.

_Drop him! Drop him!_

Baring her teeth she growls again before answering.

''To you? A very bad dream..."

She lets go.

The soldier scrambles as he begins to fall, he tries to grab hold of her arm but is unable to secure a grip. Unprepared for the sudden drop, his fingers pass over the chains wrapped around her arm, claw desperately to the cliffs edge, then again claw desperately at air.

She doesn't watch him fall, and instead listens for the ugly sounding impact then turns and begins to walk away. There's more important things to do, such as reaching her Warship and if there's still a chance of it rejoining combat, taking command and helping Kira and Orbs forces to blast these assholes out of their home.

A plume of smoke on the horizon grabs her attention, and quickly she remembers the downed Skygrasper from earlier.

"Mwu!" She takes off running at full stride in the direction of the smoke.

That man better still be alive, or else she will hunt down everyone one of these terrorists and laugh as they scream for mercy. She will not give it; she's done with mercy, if the world refuses to learn from their mistakes she will just have to force them.

**Ω Ω Ω Ω**

* * *

Dun dun dunnnn!  
Magic lightning for the win! Don't worry, theres an entire chapter explaining what the heck just happened. So yeah, this is influenced by the God of War series  
for the PS2. If your into incredibly awesome action games with amazing storylines PLAY IT! The Gundams and their pilots will play a big role in this story as well (especially emoShinn), so don't think I'll only focus on one thing, I just have to get there first. But since this fic is a god of war crossover(sorta) it will eventually have legions of monsters, a minotaur, and general freaky stuff is going to happen. fun fun! 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclamer: Gundam Seed and all its characters are copyright their respected owners, but I'd hope everyone knows that by now

* * *

Ch – 02  
Mass Confusion

The Freedom Gundam streaked through the sky as if it owned it. Inside its pilot Kira Yamato guided its movements, bringing the powerful Gundam's arm down, cutting through a strangely painted Ginn maneuver type, causing the enemy mobile suite to crash down into the surf below.

Kira doesn't understand, as he looks to his radar there are only a few attackers around, circling the general area of the damaged _Archangel_ but keeping a large distance. He can see off in the distance, the occasional group of mobile suits or jets flying closer to the heartland of orb. As much as he would like to clear these few away and go aid Orbs forces he's faced with a dilemma. The Archangel below him is badly damaged and unable to maneuver, and he has no idea what's going on inside warship due to a strange communications blackout. He also has no clue if LaFlaga or Mr. Waltfeld were able to launch, so even if he cleared away these few enemies and left, he would have zero chance of knowing if something else were to take that opportunity and finish off the archangel for good.

For now, he will stick close. Surely Cagalli could handle things, she must have made it back to the main hangers by now.

A fast beeping from his mobile suit's computer grabs his attention. A helicopter from behind has become bold, targeting the _Archangel's_ bridge and firing a salvo of missles towards it. Kira quickly brings up his advanced targeting and locks on. Not wasting another second Kira fires a colorful array of beams destroying and ultimately stopping the missiles from impacting against the_ AA'_s hull.

"Dammit! This is just getting annoying now." Kira curses as he points the Freedoms cannon at the helicopter and fires. The beam hits the rotor and the enemy craft drops to the sea in a ball of fire.

"C'mon where is everyone, this is ridiculous!" He tries to hail the _AA_ again but only receives static. "Its like they're trying to keep us here, but if I leave these creeps will be all over the _Archangel_ in a flash…"

Taking a few minutes to sit in thought, not knowing what else he can do, Kira lands his Gundam on the _Archangel's_ deck, then suddenly pulls out the onboard keyboard and starts typing furiously. Accessing his communications system he begins to re-write a simple program into the already complicated system.

"I hope this works." He says to himself as he hits the enter key, causing the Freedoms communication system to scan through every possible frequency until even the smallest of message is found. "Archangel this is Kira, do you read me Archangel." He records then sits back and waits. This could take an hour, a week, who knows. He had no choice, if he were sure the area was safe he could just get out and enter the warship through the upper deck, but he couldn't risk leaving his Gundam just yet.

"_Kira….Ar……….resp…." _Kira's radio crackles to life, he fiddles with his computer to try and clear the transmission. _"Kira! Come in, can you hear us Kira!"_

"Wow it worked." Kira is surprised yet relieved that his programming skills came in handy once again. "Yes I can hear you, don't close this transmission I have no idea if I could find this channel again." He replies and continues to try to clear the sound.

"_Affirmative Kira, we can see you through the bridge, thank you for your help."_

Kira recognized the voice on the other end as his friend Miriallia, he found it odd she was answering, he didn't even know she was on board to begin with.

"Not a problem. What's your status Archangel you look pretty banged up."

"_Yeah, we're dead in the water and most of our weapon systems are down. Mwu was able to launch but we lost contact before you showed up. One of the hangers containing Mr.Waltfeld's machine is completely flooded. Murdock is working on it but it doesn't look good."_

"Damn." Kira scowsl. "Alright, I'll stick by until some of Orbs forces show up. By the way, where is Captain Ramius?"

"_I wish I knew, she wasn't scheduled to be onboard until later. But because of her absence everyone else is doing something but me, so I've been pushed into the only seat available."_

"Alright then _Commander _Haw." Kira says jokingly. "Inform me of any status changes to the Archangel, I'll sit tight here for now and deal with whoever these guys are."

Kira moves his key panel away and puts his hands back on the controls. He can only imagine how messed up the archangel must be if they had to put Miri in command. "I hope Murrue is safe." He says to himself wondering where she could be. "Mwu as well." He adds as the trails of smoke on the horizon make him think the worst.

"Come on Cagalli, get your guys out here."

**ΩΩΩΩ**

As trees fly past her in a blur, Murrue Ramius ran towards the coastline at a pace that would put the fastest marathon runners to shame. Ignoring the helicopters and enemy mobile suits that flew overhead, she focused solely on reaching her destination, easily leaping over any downed logs and rocks in her path.

The mobile suits wont bother her she knows, from their view she is just one person, they probably have larger more important orders anyway. Coming to a clearing she notes the ground is scorched, a sole Murasame in mobile armor form lays upside down in a crater, its cockpit crushed beyond recognition. There's nothing she can do for the pilot now, so she ignores it and runs past.

Suddenly, she slides to a halt in the loose dirt when something else catches her eye. In the trail of the wreckage an upturned military jeep lays, exhaust still smoking and wheels still spinning it must have been in the path of the crashing Murasame. There's nothing out of the ordinary with the jeep, no its what's under it, or rather who's under it that needed Murrue's attention.

"Miss Cagalli!" Ramius says as she ever so carefully pulls the young blond princess out from under the jeep. The young girl moans in pain but seems to be all right. Murrue gently props her up against a nearby tree and looks her over again just to make sure, it's a miracle the vehicle didn't land on the girl.

"Uhn… Captain Ramius?" Cagalli moans as she rubs her head. "I … I got to warn the guard." She looks around at her surroundings then to Murrue. "Wait, why are you here?"

"I was about to ask the same as you Miss Cagalli, What happened?"

"Ugh, I was visiting Kira when we heard the explosions, I couldn't get through to HQ or the Harbor something was blocking communications." Cagalli says as she straightens herself against the tree.

"That would explain the lack of Orb forces out here, I myself was trying to get to the Archangel, I still am actually." Murrue continues. "Are you alright though? You need to get to the mainland and lead your people. Kira could use your help in the Strike Rouge."

"Yeah, I feel okay just a little bruised up, I must have been caught in that guys crash." Cagalli says as she looks to the downed craft, a pain in her heart knowing that a loyal Orb soldier was now dead and gone. "But the jeep, I…"

Murrue gets up from kneeling next to Cagalli, glances to the jeep then back to the girl. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it." She then leaves the girl's side and walks towards the vehicle.

Cagalli doesn't quite understand what she means as Murrue disappears around the other side of the jeep. As she slowly stands, Cagalli winces as a sharp pain shoots through her side. Focusing on her ribs Cagalli is not paying attention as the captain turns the jeep back on its wheels then reverses it closer to the blond girl.

"Here, hurry." Murrue jumps out and motions for Cagalli to get in. "You sure you're all right?" She asks as she notices the girl holding her side.

Cagalli nods then takes the drivers seat. "Yes, thank you. But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. You just get going." She smiles softly before glancing to the dying plume of smoke in the distance. "There's something I need to do first."

Cagalli nods as Captain Ramius turns and starts into a run. She puts the jeep in gear and speeds off in the other direction. If she stays off the roads she should be all right, she thinks to herself, as long as no one else decides to land on her. She drives as fast as she can without putting herself in danger, the pain in her side subsiding. For a moment she was scared she had broken a rib, to her relief it was probably just going to be sore for a few days along with a nasty bruise.

As she concentrates on driving though, something suddenly comes to her; little details she missed with the captain begin to flash in her mind. One thing Cagalli thought strange, why was Captain Ramius walking around with chains? She wasn't wearing a gun holster, was there nothing else around that could be used for a weapon? As for the second thing…

"Wait…" Cagalli straightens in the driver's seat as she thinks about it. Her vehicle had been completely turned over, not leaning in the least. "Did Captain Ramius just … no way that's ridiculous." She shakes her head and refocuses on her driving, that would have been impossible anyway, there's simply no way.

Cagalli runs a hand through her hair making sure there are no bumps hiding anywhere on her skull. "I must have hit my head as well."

**ΩΩΩΩ**

Thirty miles off the coast of Orb's harbor, a tiny single vessel lays silently deep below the surface of the water. Inside, soldier and scientists alike watch radar, monitor settings and stare intently into computer screens and live video feeds. They were soldiers from the Earth Alliance; all dressed in the same uniforms save for the scientists, who wore a simple lab coat with the EA emblem on the side.

Science officers moved from station to station as they adjusted settings and kept a sharp eye on things. Their commander, a large confident looking man kept his attention to his soldiers monitoring their status. Their mission was secret, and if they were to be discovered now would jeopardize the entire operation already underway.

"Status on activity nearby?" The commander asks, and has been asking every thirty minutes. He knows his subordinates would inform him of any changes, but he is still obliged to inquire even if it's for his own piece of mind.

"Nothing nearby sir, we're still in ghost status." A lieutenant answers clearly, not looking up from his console.

"How are the fake troops doing? Has orbs forces been launched yet?" The commander asks the same lieutenant, his voice deep almost sounding slightly bored.

"No sir, only some trouble from a couple patrols, but from the video feeds from some of the flyers it looks like we got the Archangel by surprise." The lower ranking man replies.

"That's wasn't expected, but a grand stroke of luck that I'm willing to accept." The commander rises from his seat and approaches another station. This one manned by scientists and engineers controlling various internal computer commands. "How is the blocker holding up? Can we last until the operation is completed?"

"Sir, blocker is working according to plan. Energy output nominal we should have about three more hours of operating time."

"That's plenty of time, from what I'm seeing this mission has been a success, but if we can take out Orb or that Legged Ship on the first go would be a success greater then anything we could hope for." The commander takes one last glance at their monitors before returning to his seat. "Good then, continue as is, the blocker is working its magic just as it was intended. Let them drag it out a little while longer so we can gather the necessary footage, then we can leave. Prepare to send coded message back to command, tell them we'll be on our way back shortly with what they need, so have the worldwide television broadcasts ready."

"Sir." The lieutenant types rapidly on a console and relays his orders to another. "Sir, should I signal the forces when we're ready to leave?" He asks as he continues to type away.

"No, they were trained for this purpose they know what they were in for." The commander replies coldly.

"Sir?"

"They're expendable lieutenant, is that _understood_?" The commander pushes his point.

A moment goes by.

"Understood Sir."

**ΩΩΩΩ**

The captain of the _Archangel_ finally reaches the coastline. A incredibly high wall of rock and sand stand between her and the beach, were the downed craft is waiting just below. She grabs the hilts of her weapons and wills the blades into existence and without hesitating, leaps from the cliff side. Just as she reaches maximum velocity in her free-fall, Murrue turns her body around and jams the blades deep into the rock wall. Her grip tight on her blades she slows her descent until she is low enough, and then pushes her self away from the rock before she reaches the ground.

She lands on the beach and rolls to a stop, quickly getting to her feet she runs through the surf and to the downed ship. There are people gathered all around and on the Skygrasper, splashing water on the fire and trying to pry off the canopy and get the pilot out before the tide comes in and fills the cockpit, drowning the man inside. Some look like locals others dock mechanics from the nearby harbor, good citizens or not, they're in her way.

Unfortunately they are not having any luck, the armor plating must have bent and warped in the impact. Murrue sees this and quickly takes her place on the Skygraspers fuselage, pushing away would be helpers in the process. One tries to tell her that its pointless, they would need metal cutting tools to get him out now. She merely glares at the man and tells him gruffly to move, he does so quickly not liking the look in Murrue's eyes. Once he's down she tests it for herself and finds they were telling the truth, its truly stuck fast. Much to the surprise to the others she does not accept defeat, instead she brings her arm up and drives her fist through the canopy glass. Hooking her arm under, she drives her fingers deep into a metal support and with a roar begins to pull upward.

The onlookers stare in amazement at the feat this woman was actually pulling off. Snarling through clenched teeth, the muscles in her arm and back go incredibly taut as she strains, finally the sound of metal stretching can be heard as she single handedly tears the canopy off the Skygrasper and discards it into the sea behind her.

After taking a few breaths she reaches down and places her fingers on Mwu's neck, feeling for a pulse, she lets out a sigh of relief when one is found. He is unconscious though, and the crack in his helmet visor is any indication that he whacked his head pretty hard on impact. Carefully she unbuckles his harness and removes his helmet, a streak of blood runs down the side of his face. He needs medical attention, and without wasting anymore time she gently picks him up in her arms, and jumps down from the broken fuselage.

"Mwu you ass, you're the Hawk of Endymion why did you let yourself get shot down so easily?" Murrue whispers to the unconscious man in her arms. The way to the _Archangel_ is clear at least, she points out as she walks up the beach ignoring the stares of the other onlookers. They stare in silence; occasionally looking back and forth to one another to make sure each actually saw what just transpired.

This will be a story to tell; too bad no one will believe them.

**ΩΩΩΩ**

Miriallia was about two seconds from freaking out, she wasn't sure exactly what had transpired to find herself in her current position, all she knew is that she was not cut out for it and desperately wished for Captain Ramius to get back as soon as possible.

"Ma'am, Chief Engineer Murdock reports that he may be able to get the balancers back online. We still wont be able to generate sufficient lift, but we'll at least be able to straighten out."

"Uh, Thank you Mr.Neumann." Miri replies to the helmsman in front of her, from the Captain's seat of all places. The _Archangel_ was undermanned to begin with, due to it not being scheduled to leave port for maneuvers until later in the day, but Miri still couldn't believe her of all people was placed in command after the warship had been ambushed.

She protested rather loudly when Helmsman Arnold Neumann forcefully sat her down in the center chair, but soon came to understand the situation. Everyone available was where he or she was supposed to be or where they had to be. Neumann was constantly tying to right the ship, Chandra and Tonamura were franticly trying to get in contact with someone, while anyone else who could use a wrench was down in the hangers either fixing a circuit or pumping water back out to sea. There just simply wasn't anyone left to look over everything at once, thus…as Miriallia walked onto the bridge hoping to help, was appointed captain of the day. "Chandra, any luck reaching anyone else?"

"No ma'am, communications are still all fubar, but I'm using Kira's idea to hopefully reach someone out there." The bridge officer replies as he busily types away at his console, occasionally jumping over to Tonamura's console exchanging information.

So the _Archangel_ didn't seem to be in any immediate danger at the moment. Kira had shown up in the Freedom just in time to clear away the first set of attackers and was still picking off anything that got a bit too close. But from her seat Miri was still just a bit overwhelmed, even if outside wasn't hectic, inside the _Archangel_ was a different story and Miri was now the last stop for reports, updates, orders and lots and lots of complaints. Miriallia began to wonder just how Ms.Murrue put up with it all.

"Ma'am, one of the medical staff is reporting Captain Ramius has boarded. He says she's brought Mr.LaFlaga as well, seems like he's been injured. She should be joining us soon."

"Oh thank god!" Miri says just a tad bit too enthusiastically, sure in reality she wasn't doing much, but she was still way too uncomfortable where she was. As if on cue the bridge doors open as the rightful commander of the _Archangel_ enters the bridge. Miri begins to get up from her seat to let Murrue take back control, but is surprised when a strong hand on her shoulder pushes her back down. "Ma'am?"

Murrue looks down at Miri and nods in approval. "There's a group of mobile suits heading our direction, different types from both Zaft and the EA and something that looks like it's been put together with whatever was left over. I saw the Freedom out there, are you in contact with Kira?"

"Uh, yes ma'am just barely though, we'll inform him right away. W-what would you like me… I mean what would you like us to do?" Miri stutters still a little confused as to why Murrue won't take her spot on the bridge.

"Just keep doing whatever it was you were doing before I got here. I'm going out to help Kira." Murrue turns and begins to walk away.

"What!" Miri yells. "Wait, help Kira how?" She gets no reply as Captain Ramius is already out the door and gone. "C-Captain! Wha…" Miri looks back to Neumann who simply shrugs, he's as clueless as her.

"What the hell!"

**ΩΩΩΩ**

Cagalli Yula Atha jumped out her vehicle and sort of limp-ran into the mobile suit army barracks. Seeing a random pilot leaning casually against a wall, she approaches him and unexpectedly yanks on his collar.

"You idiots why aren't you out there, can't you hear what's going on!?" She screams into his face, the poor guy nearly crapped his pants not expecting his superior to suddenly be up in his face like a rabid bear.

"Wh—we never got an order to launch, th-they told us those were merely combat exercises with live fire!"

Cagalli's eyes went wide with both surprise and anger. Orbs forces rarely uses live fire drills, and if so it's out to sea, not near the mainland at all. "Who told you that!" She yanks on the pilots flight suit as if it will make him answer faster.

"Uh, I don't know exactly it was in the announcements for the day! Please let go of me…" The young man pleads, scared out of his wits. Cagalli realizes she's taking her anger out on the wrong person and lets go. Taking a few breaths to calm herself she thinks over what the pilot said.

"That makes no sense… no sense at all. I smell a setup." She says more to herself then to anyone. "You, are you certified to pilot?"

"Uh yes!" He replies clearly now that her death-grip around his collar is gone. "The rest of my squadron is in the hanger. Is something wrong Ma'am?"

"Yes, and then some. Go get your guys ready and in their mobile suits, spread the word to anyone else you see on the way tell them I want everyone in the sky now. Comms are down so scream it if you have to!" She begins to run off to where her personal MS is held up. "Ill take command once we're up there, don't let me down!"

The young pilot had only recently finished his full hours of training and was commissioned as part of Orbs official forces, and now he was about to head into combat with the battle princess of Orb? He couldn't help but let a smile cross his face. His first battle and he was going to fight along side the Strike Rouge! Without wasting another second he takes off running yelling for his guys, there was no way in hell he was going to let his Lady down!

**ΩΩΩΩ**

* * *

Rawwr, Cagalli angry! Cagalli smash! cough yeah anyway. I'm trying my hardest not to make this incredibly cheesy, or drag on like a dbz episode (shudder). Anyway tell me what you think.  
Next chapter: Things get messy, Kira gets suspicious, an assassination attempt goes wrong.fun fun!  
Chapters are probably going to get longer too, dunno if thats a good thing or not. 


End file.
